The Duquesne women's basketball team suffered a disappointing 55-54 loss at the University of Dayton Sunday afternoon in an Atlantic 10 bout. Aiga Bautre led all scorers with 24 points followed by 12 from Loui Hall. Nicole Sinclair led all rebounders with 11 boards. Dayton was led by Terry Ramsey with 14 points - 12 of which came in the second half.

Bautre opened the game's scoring with a three-pointer but the Dukes would go 4:03 without scoring as Dayton took a 4-3 edge at 16:45. Bautre hit her second trey at 15:33 for a 6-4 Duquesne edge; the junior started the game 4-4 from the three as she notched the Dukes first 12 markers. She was 5-6 from the arc in the first half alone. She sparked a 7-0 Duquesne drive which saw Sinclair and Hall score to put the Dukes ahead 16-6 at 12:13. Dayton would see 4:05 of scoreless play. Duquesne extended its lead to 24-9 at 3:54 out-scoring the Flyers 8-3 and took a comfortable 36-13 lead into the break. Bautre hit 15 points, all three pointers, in the first frame. Duquesne out-rebounded UD 24-14 in the first half and out-shot the hosts .481 (13-27) to .250 (6-24). Neither team did well from the charity stripe as Duquesne hit just 3-8 (.375) and Dayton was 1-7 (.143).

The Flyers opened the second half on a 6-0 run over the first 1:15 of play and out-scored the Red & Blue 12-2 to get within 35-28 at 15:51. Sinclair's three-point play gave DU a 41-25 edge at 15:43 and DU led 43-34 at 14:57 before going 4:40 without scoring until Bautre hit her sixth three-pointer of the game for a 46-30 lead at 10:17. Dayton cut the lead to single digits on a 5-0 run getting to within 48-39 at 4:56 and extended the run to 9-2, the score 50-43 with 3:43 left in the game. Hall hit two free throws for a 52-43 lead but Dayton hit two clutch three point goals to bring the game to 54-49 with 1:54 ticking. Dukes lost the ball under their goal at 1:23 and Katie Butler hit a three-point play at 1:09, cutting UD's deficit to 54-52. Duquesne was called for a five-second violation under its goal at :56 to give the Flyers possession. Dayton's Jennifer Strong hits the basket at :10 for a 54-54 game, but she was fouled on the play and sent to the line for the bonus shot to a 55-54 edge. Bautre's lay-up attempt in the final second fell short and Dayton got the rebound to end the game.

The Flyers out-scored the Dukes 42-18 in the second frame, but Duquesne held a 42-37 rebounding edge.

Duquesne suffered some shooting woes in the second half hitting just 7-23 for a .304 accuracy while Dayton netted 17-40 for a .425 accuracy. Turnovers also hurt the Dukes who committed 16 in the second frame and 26 overall.

Duquesne returns to action this Friday, Feb. 4, at they host Xavier at 7:05 pm at the Palumbo Center.